RBS WorldPay Hackers Indicted - After stealing over nine million dollars in a sophisticated attack - Softpedia

RBS WorldPay Hackers Indicted - After stealing over nine million dollars in a sophisticated attack - Softpedia: "The gang of fraudsters who stole $9 million after hacking into the RBS WorldPay payment processor last year have been indicted by a grand jury in Atlanta, the United States Department of Justice announces. Four hackers and six cashers were charged with various counts of wire fraud, computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Back in December 2008, close to the winter holidays, a major US-based payment processor called RBS WorldPay announced that its network and computer systems were breached by unknown attackers. The company, which is operated by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, said at the time that only around 100 re-loadable payroll cards had been misused and subsequently disabled.

However, what the company failed to note is that some of the compromised cards were actually used to steal a whooping nine million dollars. Not only that, but the impressive sum was withdrawn over a 24-hour period from over 2,100 ATMs located in at least 280 different cities worldwide, making this attack one of the most organized and sophisticated of its kind ever to be instrumented.

The indictment reveals that the hackers intercepted and cracked encrypted data passing through the network, after which they artificially inflated the limits of the accounts chosen as targets. The payroll card details including PIN numbers were then distributed to people across the world, known as cashers, who manufactured copies of the cards and used them on ATMs.

These co-conspirators allegedly kept between 30 and 50 percent of the money, while the rest was sent back to Sergei Tsurikov, 25, of Tallinn, Estonia, Viktor Pleshchuk, 28, of St. Petersburg, Russia, Oleg Covelin, 28, of Chisinau, Moldova, and a yet unidentified individual known only as 'Hacker 3,' who are named as the leaders of the gang and the hackers responsible for the breach.

Four other residents of Tallin, Estonia, in the persons of Igor Grudijev, 31, Ronald Tsoi, 31, Evelin Tsoi, 20, and Mihhail Jevgenov, 33, were indicted in connection with this scheme for withdrawing cash using cloned cards. Two unnamed individuals were also arrested for playing a similar role in Hong Kong. However, given the scope of this operation, this is only the beginning of a very long list of co-conspirators.

'The charges brought against this highly sophisticated international hacking ring were possible only because of unprecedented international cooperation with our law enforcement partners,' noted Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer. FBI Atlanta Field Office Special Agent-in-Charge Greg Jones added that this success sends 'a clear message to cyber-criminals across the globe. Justice will not stop at international borders, but continue with the on-going cooperation between the FBI and other agencies.'

Tsurikov, Pleshchuk, Covelin and 'Hacker 3' were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Each of them face a sentence of over 35 years in prison and fines up to $3.5 million dollars. Meanwhile, Grudijev, Tsois and Jevgenov, who were indicted for access device fraud, risk maximum sentences of 15 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000."

Two Men Accused of Hacking Their Former Employer's Computers - Failure to suspend credentials at fault again - Softpedia

Two Men Accused of Hacking Their Former Employer's Computers - Failure to suspend credentials at fault again - Softpedia: "Two former employees of an engine parts distributor have been indicted for accessing the company's computer systems repeatedly without authorization after they quit. According to the prosecutors, the men used still active credentials to access sensitive information for almost two years.

Scott R. Burgess, 45 of Jasper, Indiana, and Walter D. Puckett, 39 of Williamstown, Kentucky, were indicted on November 4 for computer intrusion, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana announces. The pair used to work for Jasper-based Stens Corporation, a distributor of replacement parts for small engine outdoor power equipment.

After quitting their jobs at Stens in late 2004 and early 2005, respectively, Burgess and Puckett went on to work for a rival company. The authorities claim that until September 2006, the two illegally accessed private information stored on computers belonging to Stens Corporation on twelve separate occasions.

The intrusions allegedly had personal and commercial gain motivation and were instrumented through the use of old login credentials. It is also mentioned that Stens' IT staff noticed unusual behavior and disabled several passwords, however the perpetrators switched to using others.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, Burgess and Puckett face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 each. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana State Police have collaborated in the investigation.

Failure to disable the login credentials of dismissed individuals is a popular attack vector for data breach incidents. Security experts have warned that the risk of disgruntled employees hacking their way back in is even greater now due to the harsh economic environment.

Back in September, we reported that a former IT consultant pleaded guilty to accusations of damaging a critical system used to monitor underwater oil pipelines for leaks, because an oil-extraction company refused to offer him permanent employment. In August, a computer specialist was arrested and indicted for hacking into the network of a charity he used to work for and deleting donor records."

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Men-Accused-of-Hacking-Their-Former-Employer-s-Computers-126361.shtml